Ticket scalpers at Pulogadung

From Neraca

On the evening of Dec. 31, 1996 my friends and I were on our way to spend the holidays in Kuningan, West Java. We went to the Pulogadung bus terminal.

We bought tickets at the counter as usual, but, when we took up our places in the bus, we were surprised by a group of people who hastily clambered aboard. It appeared they were the terminal's daily scalpers.

We were shocked and terribly disappointed when we noted how these people controlled the terminal and abused prospective passengers of overland buses. Conductors were powerless in the face of these blackmailing scalpers.

We witnessed how they demanded money and put pressure on passengers, and how their attitude rendered both driver and conductor powerless.

When a passenger would object, the scalper controlling our bus took on a threatening pose accompanied with nasty words. The situation would worsen if the passenger was not prepared to pay the requested amount. He or she would then be made to get off, after which the poor traveler would be further terrorized with a knife.

It is not surprising that passengers, under such threats, would give up and pay the Rp 500 demanded.

Through this letter I am appealing to security officials to do something about these scalpers who roam every day in the vicinity of Pulogadung.

EFENDI MASUD

Jakarta